1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal sublimation printer system and a print method, and more particularly, to a thermal sublimation printer system capable of cutting print media precisely and a print method using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional thermal sublimation printer with duplex printing function utilizes a motor to drive a feeding mechanism with a rubber roller, so as to move a print medium to a position where a thermal print head is located. Afterwards, the thermal print head transfers dyes on a ribbon onto the print medium. After completing dye transferring, the motor continues to drive the feeding mechanism for moving the print medium to a position where a cutting mechanism is located. The cutting mechanism is used for cutting the print medium, so as to make a length of the print medium with a printed image be identical to that of a physical image. Consequently, and it is easy and convenient for a user to take the said cutting printed medium.
A conventional method for calculating the length for cutting the print medium is to convert movement steps of a stepping motor into the length which the print medium has been moved according to a gear ratio of a transmission system together with a radius of the rubber roller. Consequently, the thermal sublimation printer can control the cutting mechanism to cut the print medium according to the length which the print medium has been moved, so as to make the print medium meet the length of the physical image. However, both of a slip between the rubber roller and the print medium and an abnormal functioning of the stepping motor will result in error of calculating the length which the print medium has been moved. As a result, the length of the print medium with the printed image does not meet that of the physical image.
Furthermore, a conventional solution to solve issue of the slip between the rubber roller and the print medium is to use a metal roller with spurs driven by the stepping motor for holding the print medium. With the print medium being pierced by the spurs on the roller, it results in that motion between the print medium and the roller is a pure rolling without slipping. However, such kind of design will fracture the surface of the print medium so as to affect quality of printing, and even worse for duplex printing. Accordingly, design for a printing mechanism capable of cutting the print medium precisely and with good quality of printing becomes an important issue in the printer industry.